Two ninjas and a feud
by XaldinIII
Summary: Xira was normal. And Yuffie was relatively normal. And then they met... Note: This is a Xira/Yuffie. Xira is a character I created, but you don't need to know anything about her for it to make sense.


Author's Notes:

Xira is a character I created, but I think I explain everything enough so that you don't need to know anything about her beforehand. Short chapter, and the others will probably be about the same, but anyways... It's a Xira/Yuffie, so if you're uncomfortable with that, I suggest you only read the first chapter, and maybe the next few, coz after that there'll be some shoujo fluff. I'll warn you in advance though!

And please review!

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**Chapter 1. ~ Chance Encounter**

It was a normal day, of a normal weekend, on a normal street. This particular street was called 'Crystal Road', but despite the name, there was nothing particularly special, nor 'crystal' about it. The houses were indistinctive- not identical, or even similar; they were a wide variety of colours and different shapes- just indistinctive so that if one were to ask which stood out the most, they would be unable to answer. Next to the road was just grass and a footpath, interrupted every few metres by a driveway leading up to a house. Most streets were like this. And this just so happened to be the street in which Xira lived.

Xira Nakano was a normal girl; sixteen years old, went to school, lived in a house with her parents, had friends, hobbies, ate, slept, showered, breathed… all the usual. She also happened to do ninjutsu, and have silver hair, and purple eyes, but otherwise, she was normal.

She was on her way to the city centre. The city was called 'Ansem', named after some guy who designed it or something. Usually she walked, because she had nothing better to do in the mornings, but today she was late.

And so, she waited at the bus stop.

x-x-x

Yuffie Kisaragi was a relatively normal girl; seventeen years old, went to school, lived in a house with an assortment of people, had friends, hobbies, ate, slept, showered, breathed… all the usual. She had short black hair, bright brown eyes, was super-happy and hyperactive most of the time, and she was a kleptomaniac. She was sane, at the very least, but somewhat weird.

Yuffie worked in a shoe shop. Why? Who knew. Everything Yuffie did was quite… interesting, but no-one ever questioned her. Yuffie was Yuffie, Yuffie was weird, the world was in balance.

She lived in a street called 'Radiant Crescent', although there was nothing particularly special nor 'radiant' about it. It was further from the city than Crystal Road, and too far to walk. Either that or she was just too lazy to get up early enough to make it on time.

Normally around this time she would be on the bus to go to work. She had morning shifts on Saturdays, but she had called her boss yesterday to say that she couldn't make it, and gotten one of her friends to take her shift.

No, it wasn't an excuse to go on a huge shopping spree. No, she wasn't going on a kleptomaniac rampage. No, she wasn't running around in Ansem with her friends and scaring randoms.

She could've been doing any of those things, but no. She was going to school. Something had come up in the past few days that was completely unavoidable, no matter how much she had whined and complained.

And so, Yuffie sat by the window of the bus, with her nose buried in a book that she had no idea what it was about. She wasn't good at concentrating; she had been reading the same two sentences over and over for the entire bus trip.

The bus was nearly full; a lot of people went to the city on weekends. The space next to her was free, and as more people got onto the bus, they filled some of the other seats. They had probably heard of her reputation, and were intentionally trying to avoid sitting next to her because they knew that she could be a little mentally scarring.

The bus stopped again, she heard the door open. A few seconds later, she saw a glimmer of silver and felt a weight sink into the seat, as an old lady sat next to her. Yuffie didn't like old people; she shifted across along the seat to sit as far as possible, and conveniently found a great interest in the outside world. The bus started moving again.

A few times, she felt eyes burning into the side of her head. _Old people don't like walking; she's probably just going to the next street or something. She's probably getting off next stop… next stop… next stop…_

The bus stopped again. And again. And again.

After a few repetitions of this cycle, Yuffie decided that the old lady would probably not be getting off the bus anytime soon. Curiosity got the better of her; Yuffie stole a quick glance at the space-occupier next to her.

Okay, so maybe not an old lady. The person next to her was actually a girl about her age, with silver hair drawn into a long plait. And freaky purple eyes.

Brown eyes met purple, both quickly looked away. They both began to fidget.

_She's about my age_, Yuffie figured; maybe they could be friends. They probably had something in common. Maybe they went to the same school, or she was a friend of a friend of a friend, or a long-lost cousin, or maybe they both ate and brushed their teeth at exactly the same time and their lives ran in parallel. Or something. Whatever the connection, Yuffie would find it.

She could've asked anything, and maybe had a proper conversation; what school she went to, where she was going, what her name was, how old she was, did she have any pets… Anything. Yuffie was good with strangers. Instead:

"I'm a ninja!" Yuffie said brightly.

"…"

A very awkward silence stretched between them. The freaky silver-haired girl stared, while she mentally ran through her response options: _That's nice… What the hell?… Do I know you?… You're bizarre…_

The silence continued long enough for Yuffie to notice the sounds of the bus. _Wow… if you're quiet long enough, you can hear a high-pitched noise._ Of course, the being-quiet-for-long-enough didn't very often happen with Yuffie. At length, the other girl spoke. "… I'm a ninja, too."

Yuffie's eyes widened. _Connection: Found. NINJAAAA!!! Another victory for the great Yuffie!_ She beamed. "Wow, really?"

And then they lapsed into silence again. Yuffie hummed quietly and looked up to the sky, the other decided that shadows make very interesting patterns on the seat in front. The silence continued for a while, and Yuffie decided that a sheep-shaped cloud was following them.

Now it was the freaky purple-eyed ninja's turn. "I'm Xira." she said.

"I'm Yuffie!"

And then they were silent again. And they both wondered why they had just given their name to a complete stranger. Yuffie drummed her fingers on the book in her lap, Xira interlaced her fingers, she swivelled her thumbs, and made a mental profile on Yuffie. [_Yuffie: Ninja. A very weird person._]

Usually, Yuffie was talkative. Usually, she was very good with strangers. Usually, conversation came naturally to her, like… something that was natural. But the freaky ninja with the scary eyes, who she had originally thought was an old lady, was just _weird_.

Xira was not very good with strangers. In fact, they generally scared her, and she tried to avoid talking to them whenever possible.

Yuffie was getting very uncomfortable. _Damn you, stupid quiet person_. Xira's inability to communicate with people with whom she had never held a conversation with, must have been contagious. What they had just had was not a conversation; it was just each of them saying a few words that coincidentally happened to make sense in the context of the other person's words. It was possible to have more of a conversation with a _wall_. And at least the wall didn't have creepy silver hair, or freaky purple eyes.

Yuffie tried again. "So where are you going?"

"Work." Determined to make this exchange of words last more than ten seconds, she added, "What about you?"

Yuffie made a face. "I accidentally smashed the principal's car window, so I have a detention."

Xira did the worst thing she could've done in this situation. She laughed.

x-x-x

The rest of the ride was more awkward than it had been before. Yuffie had tried to make progress with her book in an attempt to ignore the other ninja, but eventually gave up and was now glaring up at the sheep-cloud. Xira found a great fascination in counting the pieces of gum stuck to the ground. She decided that she had done something wrong, and was contemplating whether or not it would make any difference if she apologised.

Then the bus stopped at the interchange of Ansem, Xira walked to the front. She looked at Yuffie, who was concentrating hard on staring out the window, but occasionally throwing glances at her.

"Um… bye."

Yuffie looked at her, then turned her head with a "hmph!"

Xira got off the bus, and watched it leave. She couldn't understand how someone like Yuffie, who seemed so… super-happy, could hold a grudge against her for just _laughing_. _Once._

One laugh. That's all it had taken. One laugh, and she was guaranteed a nicely reserved spot, high up on Yuffie's evil list.

Well, it didn't really matter. It was just a coincidental chance encounter on a bus, because there just happened to be very few seats left and she had just happened to sit in the one next to Yuffie.

She put her bag over her shoulders and started walking to where she worked.

Even so, in the future she would try to make an effort to get up earlier, so that she wouldn't have to catch the bus to work again. That, she was sure of.


End file.
